


Deleted Video

by Keitmeg



Series: The Dolan Twins and Grethan [3]
Category: The Dolan Twins
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Love, Challenge Video, Games, Gen, Grayson is Being a Dick, Hugs, Oblivious Ethan, Revenge Video, Unresolved Emotional Tension, prank
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 11:49:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11989206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keitmeg/pseuds/Keitmeg
Summary: Grayson decides to prank his older twin brother Ethan, it backfires.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't remember the full name of the guy who always helps the twins with their videos, no disrespect.

 

 

“What’s up guys, we’re back!” The intro goes as usual. Grayson and Ethan, glamorous with their messy hair and sharp jaws, standing at a spot in the warehouse before the camera, puffing out their muscled chests and endearing smiles.

“For this video” –Ethan starts – “we’re–”

“Pranking Ethan” Grayson finished in front of a different camera where he is obviously situated alone. “If you guys don’t remember, a while ago, Ethan froze my phone in ice –not my real phone but he pranked me, and I never had the chance to get him back for that. But that’s changed.” A triumphant grin pulls at his lips, “so Ethan has no idea that during this Challenge Video, I’m going to be pranking him.”

 

Back to the Challenge Video:

“So we have Jack and Aaron here,” Ethan introduced and the two said guys wave to the camera and say hi. Not normally as any other ordinary civilian would, mind you. There’s a load of testosterone and a challenge in the horizon to look forward to, so there’s a lot of Dr. Banner in his green upgrade. “So what we’re basically doing here is–”

Grayson winks at the camera because this is where his prank starts.

“we’re playing in teams” –he darts a hand to Grayson’s chest but Grayson recoils, which has Ethan narrowing his eyes because the reaction looked genuine– “me and Grayson, Grethen team and–”

Grayson cuts him off, “actually,” he said, “I want to switch.”

Ethan lifts a brow, “what’ you mean switch? We’re playing in teams.”

“I know,” Grayson huffed, now skidding towards Jack. “I’m switching teams”

Thing is, Jack and Aaron are in this with him.

“Cool bro,” Jack gushed, palming out his hand in the air for a high five.

Grayson indulges.

Ethan licks his lips and shrugs, now reeling to Aaron, “guess we’re in the same team now.”

Aaron gives him a bashful smile.

Great, so first part of the prank is already weaving itself wonderfully.

“As you can see,” Grayson tells the camera, and can see Ethan eyeing his profile: pupils studying his lips as he talks, he does that every single time. “We have to play through a set of games, and beat the other team to see who is better.”

“Yea,” Ethan says over him, “first team to lose will face a penalty. We don’t know what that is yet” –they laugh jointly at the joke sans Grayson– “but yea, it’s not going to be pretty.”

“Round 1” they shout in unison.

The take stops as they get the camera ready for the next one. All the while, Grayson keeps his distance from his twin brother, answering in curt yes or no, sometimes even shrugging, and he can tell it has Ethan biting his bottom lip with frustration.

“So game’s called Piggyback Water Bowl.” Jack announces, curly locks swooshing across his pale face.

“Each team has to get a bowl of water from point A to point B, and fill up the tank up there,” Ethan explains, giving Slideshow Mike a chance to capture the course of the race. “But here’s the catch.”

Now Aaron speaks, “each team has to give each other piggyback rides, and the person we’re carrying has to hold a bowl full of water and race to the end of the line, but if you get there and the bowl is empty–”

“Instant elimination” Grayson rasps, crossing his arms over his chest and face serious.

They make rodeo jokes, it’s loud and noisy like a men’s locker-room.

“Round 1” Ethan says with his index lifted, standing at the start line with the rest.

Jack gets on Grayson’s back and so does Aaron on Ethan’s, the Carpendail holding large bowls containing water. Slideshow Mike blows the whistle and the two teams shoot forward, and then it’s downright messy.

Water splashes all over them the faster the Dolans run. If you slow your pace you risk the chance to win, but if you go too quick and even get to the line first, no water in the bowl will immediately eliminate you.

Grayson reads the equation in the air and slows his pace. Jack is holding his balance quite remarkably and Grayson has no doubts that if they keep this up, the win is theirs.

Ethan and Aaron reach the end line first, and as they high five and bump chests, Grayson and Jack slowly catch up. When they compare the content of the bowls, even measure the water, it proves that Grayson’s strategy won him the round.

Ethan and Aaron’s shoulders sag in defeat for a moment, and Grayson and Jack bump fists in celebration.

“Don’t worry,” Aaron tells Ethan, “we’ll get them in the second round.”

Grayson and Jack immerse in a nonsensical conversation just to keep the front as Gray scrutinizes his twin’s reaction. So this is the prank: ignore Ethan. It might sound silly, if it wasn’t the Dolans! But the two twin brothers have been figuratively conjoined at the hip since birth. The only time they separated for too long was for the Challenge Video, and even after that time, the two promised never again. So Grayson is not going anywhere, but ignoring Ethan will do the trick. Ethan is the oldest so he’s not really used to having no as an answer. He isn’t even used to Grayson staying mad at him for more than five minutes, and so this should be a torture.

As they cut the video to move the settings for the next round, Ethan comes up to Grayson. Thing is again, Slideshow Mike is also in this, so he grabs a camera and zooms in on the twins. Ethan approaches his younger twin, shoulders drooped.

“Dude, what’s up with you today?”

Grayson glances over at him, keeping his poker face on, and then he looks back at Jack, “So yea, that back flip was cool but I’ve seen better.”

“Grayson!” Ethan bellows, “You ignoring me now?”

Jack was about to comment on Grayson’s statement but Ethan’s pout knocks him off his socks. His eyes switch from Ethan’s to Grayson’s, and the latter ushers with his head, “come on,” he says, moving to stand before the cameras, leaving Ethan scrutinizing at his broad back.

Ethan keeps his protest to himself this time and joins the three guys, arms crossed over his chest and face set in deep angry lines.

“So for the second round,” Grayson starts, arms twining and untwining in front of his chest, “we have our skateboard ramp,” he gesticulates at the said ramp, “which is covered in oil.”

“We also have a few items here on the ridge,” Jack continues for him, “each team has to deliver these objects from point A to point B. The fastest team wins.”

What started like a Gorilla zoo tapered off to a silent play, what with the crackling friction between the two hosts. Grayson ignoring Ethan and Ethan shutting off on himself bit by bit.

Grayson and Jack won the first round so they give the other two the honor of starting the second.

Ethan stands at the side of the ramp’s ridge that faces the wall and Aaron at the opposite. There’s a bunch of items like three tea cups on a tray, one egg, domino pieces standing upright, and it’s up to Aaron to get them from his side to Ethan’s, without spilling , breaking or tipping anything, while crossing the oil-covered ramp surface.

So Jack starts the chronometer once Aaron stands on the ridge, holding the egg in a hand.

“Come on! Aaron!” Ethan vouches from the opposite side of the ramp, “just slide on the thing.”

Aaron follows his instruction, and instead of tipping backward and falling on his backside, Aaron glides over the ramp like a champ and hands Ethan the egg, which the latter takes and places by his foot. He helps Aaron to the rim and glides, barefooted, over the ramp to the other side again, he wobbles a little but he is quick to maintain his balance. He slips on the panels and reaches the tray of tea cups, holds it up like a waiter with five years of experience, and embarks back to his corner. Although, he ends up losing a few cups when he totters and almost slides off the floorboard. Aaron takes the tray from him and puts it next to the egg, helps Ethan up and ventures to get the last item.

Grayson and Jack are giving their piece of commentary, making fun of their slips and the skipped fails.

Aaron almost loses his grip on the plate that holds the domino pieces upright, which tips them over. Ethan squeaks in warning, but Aaron regains his equilibrium in the speed of light and reaches Ethan before the count reaches a minute.

And all the while, Grayson bites down on his knuckles not to go over and help Ethan up after the latter slipped on the floor.

Jack stops the chronometer and shows them the numbers on his phone’s screen. Ethan and Aaron high five again, grinning from ear to ear.

Now Jack and Grayson hold their position each at a corner, once Ethan starts the chronometer, Jack lifts the domino pieces. Changing strategy, are we? Grayson is on the opposite side, rooting for his partner and throwing encouragements, but Jack, in a moment of haste to beat Aaron’s record, ends up scurrying too fast. His feet trip on one another and he ends up falling down face-first. And it goes on and on, he falls and stands right back up, even goes back to change the item because all the domino pieces were slippery now. Grayson has sat down, elbows on parted knees, eyes glaring on the plank.

When Jack finally reaches over and gives him the egg, Grayson knocks it on his face as a punishment.

Aaron and Ethan bark a hysteric laugh in the background.

Grayson helps Jack up and slides on the plank, reaching the items in less than two seconds. Well, he is frigging flexible. He takes hold of the tray and returns to the other side, although he struggles a little at first but soon finds a way to hold his balance.

Ethan stops the chronometer, walks up to them to show them the record on its screen which reads one minute and twenty seconds.

So it’s a tie.

Grayson leans on the side of the ramp to wipe his soles while Jack, covered in yolk and egg shells, pours his apologies in a mawkish display which has Grayson rolling his eyes. And then Ethan comes up to Grayson again, trying for a smug smirk.

“Loved the egg smack.” He tells his twin.

Grayson spares him a stare before straightening up to full height and walking away altogether.

Ethan’s eyes fall on Jack’s and the latter gives a thin smile, soon following after Grayson.

Jack shakes his head apologetically when he reaches Grayson, “dude, this is cruel.”

“He left me trapped to a chair for over _six_ hours, Jack.” Grayson reasons, a smirk taunting about his face, “and last time he almost gave me a heart attack with that frozen phone prank.”

“Still, dude, he looks like he’s about to burst into tears.” Jack sighs heavily.

“Where ‘you going?”

The two of them hear Aaron yell, they look up and find Ethan heading their way again so Jack instinctively moves rearward until he spots an empty area and sneaks to it, away from whatever is about to transpire between the twins.

Grayson leans back on the wall and crosses his arms, one eyebrow cocked.

“Dude, this is getting old,” Ethan whines, standing in front of his twin, “what is it? Did I do something?”

Grayson clicks his tongue as though the grumbling is boring him out of his mind, but what Ethan doesn’t know can’t hurt him, or can it?

Ethan snakes his tongue over his bottom lip, clears his throat and invades his brother’s personal space, “If I did something wrong, I’m sorry.” He croaks, “I honestly don’t know.”

Grayson rolls his eyes.

“Just…” Ethan looks as though the words are causing him physical pain, “why are you ignoring me, Gray?”

Grayson seizes the chance when Ethan looks down to wink at the hidden camera. “Let’s just finish the game.” Grayson waves it off, now returning to the spot before the camera.

Ethan is facing the wall so no one can read his expression, but when he reels around his smile is nowhere to be found.

 

“Final round” Ethan tells the camera, voice dark and brows knitted.

Grayson is standing at Jack’s right, with the latter and Aaron in the middle, he and Ethan are standing far apart, so when he chuckles, Jack is the only one who hears it.

“In this round,” Jack explains, “we have to get these” –he shows a couple of beverage cans– “from here to there.”

“But there’s a rub.” Aaron interjects.

“We have to crawl,” Grayson says, “not only that,” he can see Ethan from the corner of his eyes again, peeking at him with longing eyes, “each team has to put a can between their shoulders and get it to the finish line, if it drops halfway, you’ll have to return to the start line and try again.”

“Alright guys, on your marks,” Mike orders, waits until each team’s member is on his hands and knees with a can between their shoulders before he blows the whistle.

The two teams show different levels of competing; while Grayson and Jack take the lead, Aaron is having a hard time in the back with Ethan whose head is obviously not in the game anymore. It doesn’t take long before Grayson’s team wins.

Adam tosses the winners a pair of shock collars.

 

It’s been two months since the accident with Ethan shooting his neurons everywhere, and although he looks like he’s come over it, Grayson is certain that Ethan still tips over depressing hurdles sometimes –when no one is looking. His mind is still fragile so pulling something like this on his older twin is not only cruel, it’s plain heartless. It’s only now that Grayson starts feeling bids of guilt creeping up on his conscience.

So as they stand there with Ethan and Aaron on the top of the platform, shock collars on their upper arms, Grayson decides to reveal the secret behind his attitude towards his twin when they’re done here. They zap them and the two dejected-looking guys fall into the sea of purple foam blocks.

When they finally emerge back up, unkempt hair sticking everywhere, cheeks smeared with a blush, Grayson and Jack can’t resist cracking jokes at their expense.

And just then, Grayson decides not to reveal anything yet. He has to involve pizza in this before he puts the lid on this once and for all.

 

So they wrap things up and go upstairs, they shower and slip into clean clothes.

Grayson still keeps his distance from Ethan.

 

So as they discuss their trek to the pizza place, just the four of them minus Ethan, the latter goes into his room after muttering a ‘gonna nap’.

 

“Bro, think it’s time to spill the beans,” Mike coaxes, “I don’t know about you guys but he looked about to cry.”

Aaron and Jack nod in agreement.

“We lost because his head wasn’t in the game,” Aaron reveals, heaving out a sigh, “and now this?” he shakes his head, “I don’t know, dude, can’t do it, don’t want him to start hating on me.”

“Same, dude.” Jack winces, “we kept it under wraps for long enough, I think you should tell ‘m.”

Grayson only glowers in response. Ethan is his twin brother and if he says until later, then it’s until later. “After the pizza.”

 

They’ve acquiesced eventually. Not wanting to get in the way of Grayson’s revenge, besides, the two twins always pranked each other, so this shouldn’t come off as a surprise.

 

Inside the booth they’re occupying, Grayson takes out his phone to scroll down his news feed, finding that Ethan has posted a Selfie to one of his social apps: a black and white photo of himself wearing a hoodie, lying in bed, and there’s a caption in the middle that reads ‘Ditched again’.

Grayson doesn’t show it to his boisterous friends, and even after Mike shoves the camera to his face, he quickly turns his phone off and flings it to the table.

A few moments later finds Grayson levering up to his feet, thrusting his phone into his side pocket and walking out of the pizza place, solo.

The three want to hang out more, but all Grayson wants is to see his brother.

 

“So, hi guys, again” he tells the camera he took from Mike back in the booth. “I’m walking back to our place. It’s almost eight in the evening, it was six when we left so Ethan is probably still napping.” He says, “I know I acted like a jackass to my own twin brother, and after reflecting, I realized that there is other stuff I’d have gone for, ignoring Ethan was bad, I think? Don’t get me wrong, the prank worked, but I know Ethan, napping is what he does when he’s beat or sad, so I guess he was both.”

 

It’s eight thirty when he finally gets home.

“Alright,” he says, “so I’ll try not to wake him up, at least until I set up the camera.”

He goes into Ethan’s dimly-lit room, tries to locate his brother under all that bundle of bed sheets but all he sees is the mop of hair fanning on the surface of the pillow. He places the camera on the bedside table and turns on the light of the lamp.

“Ethan?” He rasps, now slowly climbing onto the bed, making it dib under his weight. “Hey, E, I’m back.”

Ethan squirms under his quilt but doesn’t wake up.

Grayson uncovers his brother’s face, puffy, red-rimmed eyes open to slits. “Hey, man” he relents. The fact that Ethan cried himself to sleep is not that far-fetched. “I just came back, the boys said they wanted to hang out more, so I’m by myself.”

Ethan furrows at him, “so you’re not gonna ignore me again?”

“No,” Grayson shakes his head, “no, that was a prank, E, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”

The perplexed look morphs into a hard glare, and Grayson welcomes the lambasting which doesn’t follow, instead, Ethan’s arms slide up from under the quilt and wind around Grayson’s neck, pulling him into a hug.

“Never again,” he whispers in the hollow of Grayson’s neck, but it’s muffled by the bare skin, “you hear me?”

Grayson’s heart drops with remorse, and soon, he brings a hand to Ethan’s hair, threading through fluffy locks, “yea, I hear ya.” He whispers into the side of Ethan’s head, light strands of hair tickling his chin, “never again.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan's payback.

 

It starts with a gallon of theatrical blood.

Ethan was still shaken up by the prank Grayson pulled on him. Not only was it childish, but it was also cruel. It really was only a matter of time before Ethan decided to strike back to get his brother for the prank, and really, Grayson had it coming.

So this time, Ethan, with Mike’s help, scheme a prank that hopefully would give Grayson gray hair the longest it lasts.

So they’re in the warehouse with music blasting from Grayson’s phone speakers, echoing off the high ceiling and soaring above whatever noise skating over the ramp or bouncing on the trampoline cause.  Grayson is lying inside the pit of foam, phone in hand. He’s just finished four or maybe five different flips and has decided to take a break. He already skateboarded with Ethan and left his brother to it to jump into the foam; unlike his brother, Grayson welcomed the break between physical activities. But what he doesn’t know is that the two other guys, Ethan and Mike, are plotting the scare with the language of their eyes.

Mike slips out of the trampoline and goes to the mattress behind, pulls out an orange plastic bottle. He skids to the ramp and ushers to Ethan to keep skateboarding so the silence wouldn’t pique Grayson’s curiosity, which Ethan does with a little smirk twitching on his lips. Mike spills the contents of the bottle on the side of the ramp, on its sharp edge, and tells Ethan to quickly dip the side of his head in the fake blood as well.

Ethan goes back to skating just as quickly so that Grayson won’t suspect anything.

Mike returns the bottle to its place and slips back into the trampoline to jump. He and Ethan share an evil snicker before Ethan gives the signal that he is kicking off the plan.

Ethan feels the beats of his heart so loud and the somersaults of his stomach so vigorous. And for a moment, he almost falters. He tells himself it might fail. He tells himself Grayson will see right through it and it’d be a bust after they’ve spent those few bucks on the fake blood. It’s not like the plan requires a lot, but it’d still upset him if Grayson read the whole thing with just a glance at Ethan’s blood-coated temple.

Well, there’s only one way to find out.

Ethan launches off the ridge but deliberately makes the loud noise of plank hitting plank. He lets out an anguished scream because, okay, maybe the fall wasn’t that painful but he has an audience to convince. He deliberately falls in a way that has the back of his head on the fake blood.

And to assist his performance, Mike actually squeaks.

Ethan would have laughed if Grayson didn’t actually bellow a ‘what the hell was that’.  So he quickly closes his eyes – _you’ve got this, Ethan, you can do it_. He evens out his breathing and goes completely still.

Grayson was about to play DANGEROUS next on his playlist when he heard the crash of board on the ramp. He knows the only one skateboarding on it is his twin, and he also knows that, judging by the noise, Ethan either failed to flip the board and landed on his ass instead or he actually did flip it but still fell because that crash sounded bad. He crawls out of the pit from the side that overlooks the ramp, thinking he will find Ethan nursing his butt and pouting. But when he scans the body of his brother, lying motionless in a pond of blood, he is quickly jumping off the pit and to the ramp, legs scurrying to his brother side.

“Ethan!” He hollers, eyes widening.

Mike also slips out of the trampoline again, pale-faced and wide-eyed, more because Grayson actually fell for it. “Dude!” he grouses, “he just fell like a sack of potatoes, like bam, and down!”

Grayson is quickly on his knees, shaky hands hovering over his brother’s chest. “Ethan? Ethan, come on, wake up, man!”

“Gray, look at the blood here” Mike points at the edge of the ramp, “knew he hit his head!”

Grayson is horrified by the revelation. He looks away from the blood-stained spot back at his brother, ducks a little to assist the damage and that’s when he sees even more blood on the side of Ethan’s head. Fuck, head injuries are never a good thing. “Call 911.” He commands, voice deep but almost raspy, and Mike guesses this is what a Grayson scared to death sounds like.

“I’m on it, man!” Mike scoots rearward, fishing out his phone and pretending to hit the digits.

Grayson gives Ethan’s cheek a few light slaps, “Ethan, come on, please, wake up.” The raw fear in his voice almost holds off Ethan’s resolve to go on with the plan, “don’t be like this, E. Come on bro.”

And just for the heck of it, Ethan decides to seize.

Look, skateboarding without a helmet is already bad, face-planting into hard plank is worse. Ethan have watched videos of guys dropping on their heads and seizing, and he is pretty sure Grayson have as well.

“They’re on their way!” Mike suddenly blares, voice fervent.

Grayson reels his head at the guy and asks how much time it’s going to take them when Ethan’s hand brushes against his thigh, so he snaps his head back to his brother and watches with distinct horror how his brother’s body becomes overcome by small tremors that travel across his body as he whimpers and wheezes.

Ethan is seizing. He is having a fucking seizure!

“Oh my God!” Mike blurts. In the back of his mind, he knows it’s just a bluff, but seeing Ethan like that almost shakes that knowledge off.

“Shit, he’s seizing!” Grayson marvels, “what’ we do, what do we fucking do?!”

“I don’t know, man!” Mike stutters, hands clutching at his hair.

Grayson scrubs a hand over his face and gently turns Ethan on his side. He keeps a hand on the blood-soaked neck, immobilizing it so Ethan wouldn’t end up snapping it in a half. “E, bro… don’t do this to me” he croaks. “Fuck” He grits out when Ethan’s back arches a few degrees like a fucking rainbow bridge, and it’s even more frightening when Ethan lets out a throaty grunt and then a gasp like he is anguished but the convulsions keep him from voicing it out. “Fuck!” Grayson holds his brother still, “when is the ambulance going to be here!”

“I –” Mike, for the first time, is speechless. “I’m –I don’t…”

“Ethan!” Grayson grouches, maybe the commanding tone would bring his Ethan back to his senses, like he’d intimidate the fucking seizure with that, “fight it man. Come on, come back to me.”

Ethan’s body is wracked by more jolts and spasms, and he keeps whimpering and moaning in pain…. until he doesn’t.

He opens his eyes and looks up at his brother, and as they lock eyes, all thoughts of jokes escape his mind when he actually _sees_ Grayson.

He should be celebrating. He should be calling Grayson out on his stupidity for falling for something so obvious like that.

But Grayson’s red-rimmed eyes and pale face make his shoulders sag in defeat.

He sits up, eyes never leaving Grayson’s, and then he brings his brother into a hug. “I’m sorry,” he whispers into his brother’s ear, “I’m so sorry.”

Grayson doesn’t hug him back, and Ethan would have felt insulted if the situation wasn’t so dire. He admits he went too far with this prank and he is glad they didn’t get it on camera.

“Grayson,” he tightens his hold on his brother, as though if he hugged him enough all the horrors he’s just made his brother go through would be forgotten. “Gray, I’m sorry.”

Mike breathes out an enormous sigh of relief and slumps against the foot of the trampoline, his entire body shuddering at the fact that he’s just escaped Grayson’s wrath.

 


	3. A Very Close One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the making of a video, Grayson gets into an unexpected accident, brotherly love ensues. (Because Ethan's been a little dick lately so here's a fix-up).

 

 

For this week’s video, the rules are simple:

You carry your luggage from point A, to point B –a location that you can only reach if you solve different puzzles and answer several questions on the way. Each will be given different questions that will, needless to say, lead to the same location, aka point B. Once the player gets there, he has to find the ticket inside the luggage. After the player finds the ticket, he repacks the luggage and gets back to the starting point. Then, the first player to the scene has to guess correctly what the word the guest (there needs to be a third party for this to work) is trying to say after he or she speaks one syllable. There should be a hint in the ticket.

The player will only win the game if he completes the word. The loser will have to either wear an outfit from the winner’s choice (it can be cosplay or just a weird getup), or get smacked to the face with a wet towel into the pool.

The penalty can be changed.

 

Grayson and Ethan face the airport’s large doors, eyes narrowed under the harsh glare of the sun. Cameron, their sister, slowly vacates Ethan’s car and approaches her twin baby brothers.

“Are you even sure you guys can do this?”

Ethan takes his eyes off the building just long enough to arch a brow at her in challenge, “Why, you think we can’t?”

It isn’t a matter of can or can’t, “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s over forty degrees outside.”

“Yeah,” he agrees immediately, his scowl melting under the heat. “But Tuesday is coming up. We have to post something.”

Grayson frowns up at him, “Okay,” he says with a tone of finality, “Let’s do this.”

 

Cameron stays behind in a café inside the airport, while Grayson and Ethan each take his car. They have cameras installed in several angles to make it easy to drive and talk, while also skim through what the papers they were previously given contain.

Ethan reads through the first puzzle: “I’m first at your right. I feed people.” He looks at his right, but there’s nothing but his hat on the seat, unless people eat that.

Grayson frowns at the windshield, and the scenery reflects on his glasses. “So it could be a restaurant.”

“Or a rest area” Ethan says to his camera.

“A pizzeria, maybe?” Grayson scrubs at his stubble with his knuckles.

They take the first turn, swiveling their car on the roasted tar, and soon come across whatever sign that is the answer to the question on their paper, and, telepathy or not, they both delight at the sight. They won’t have to look stupid now.

The riddles and the questions are easy after that, and Ethan is the first to the blue-walled location. “Alright guys,” he smirks in a way that makes his hazel eyes gleam, “I’m here. And I’m pretty sure I’m the first. Take that, Grayson.” He parks the car aside and pulls the bag from the trunk. One handedly, he rummages through it for the ticket, while the other hand keeps a camera angled at him. He swears a couple of time but eventually rejoices at having finally found the ticket. He repacks the luggage and heads back to the airport.

 

“Oh, crap!” Grayson finds, a little late, that he might have taken a different route so he pulls over, takes his glasses off and goes through the papers again. Although he doesn’t know yet whether or not Ethan has reached point B and is already on his way back to the airport, he still freaks out. Because that’s what he does when worry snakes on him.

“No! Which one did I mess up?” He bellows at the cameras and the papers, as though if he did that enough, they’d redirect him to the correct route. “How am I supposed to know?”

 

Ethan walks into the airport, finds Cameron chatting away with a guy who waves bye after Ethan comes up to them. He doesn’t see Grayson anywhere so that gives him time to overcome the second obstacle in this game. He really wants Grayson to lose so he can dress him up in the cropped top he hates so much.

“Come on.” He shows her the ticket, “now, on with it.”

“Alright,” she straightens up in her seat. “Your syllable is /pi/.”

He takes a second to think before speaking, “Pizza?” That’s the first thing that comes to mind. He can’t help it. He loves pizza.

“No,” she shakes her head, “Pi.”

“Pity?”

“You know, you can look at the ticket for a hint.” She helps him before she could smack herself on the face, or him.

He does as suggested and finds a photo of a tree. “Oh, painting?”

She still shakes her head.

At this rate, Grayson is going to catch up soon.

 

Grayson gives the wheel a few hits while effusively vocalizing his anger in a string of ‘stupid’ and ‘god damn’. He knows he can’t cheat by checking the car’s GPS because there’s a camera facing it, which sucks. He starts the engine again, deciding on driving back a few blocks.

He spins the wheel to get the tires moving, but as he turns, another car collides with the side of his vehicle.

 

“Ok, now I get it.” Ethan leers, “Picture.”

Instead of clapping, Cameron actually blows a sigh, “Finally!”

“So does this mean I get to change Grayson’s outfit to whatever I want?”

Her eyes gleam with the same mischievous glint in his, “What ‘you have in mind?”

 

All he remembers after the siren in his ears went off are a loud shriek and a violent shake, like an earthquake. Then something smashing –glass of the window, he assumes. His body was jerked like a puppy with its strings cut off. Grayson groans, willing his swimming vision to focus and the muffled voices to clear out.

The voices, they sound hysterical and raging. He looks up through slanted eyes and catches a glimpse of himself on the rearview mirror; there are long, thick trails of blood pouring down the left side of his head and smearing the collar of his shirt red. He guesses it happened when he hit his head against the window, before it got smashed.

The door is suddenly yanked open, and it creaks so loudly that Grayson can’t help but scrutinize it, finally spotting the dent on it.

“…fine, young man?”

 

“He’s taking awfully long,” Cameron tells her brother, “Do you think maybe he’s lost?”

Ethan smiles triumphantly, because this is giving him enough ammo to give Grayson shit about his sense of direction, and then fishes his phone out. “We turned on the GPS in each other’s phones; it should be easy to locate him.”

 

Grayson picks up his brother’s call at the second ring, “Hey, dude.”

“What’ you doing at the salvage?”

Grayson winces at how he is supposed to word it but he says it anyway, “Um, about that,” he starts, “I’ve been in a little accident.”

“What!”

Grayson pulls the phone away from his ear to avoid losing his hearing, and only places it back when Ethan stops yelling. “Just come down here, I’ll tell you everything then.”

 

Less than ten minutes later, Ethan’s car slides into the scene and comes to an abrupt halt in front of the yellow ‘do not cross’ tape, which surrounding the glass on the road and Grayson’s dented car parked askew beside the road. An officer is directing the traffic of curious drivers, and an ambulance is right next to Grayson’s car.

Ethan has felt panic countless of times; he and his brother always gets into accidents so it just doesn’t go away, but this is different. This isn’t just a broken arm or a finger, this is broken glass of Grayson’s car!

“Oh my God,” Cameron’s voice is low and ominous, “oh my God” she repeats it as she exits the vehicle, eyes searching around like she’s in a nightmare and can’t get up.

Ethan’s mind is totally blank at first, before ideas –bad ideas start swarming up; what if Grayson was badly hurt, the car’s side is dented… Panic starts to bubble up, almost smothering him in the small space. He quickly swats at the door, opens it and goes after his sister.

An officer stops them, saying that civilians have no business there, and he only lets them in after they tell him Grayson called and said he had an accident, and that he is their brother and they wish to be with him.

Ethan doesn’t expect walking up to a cheerful Grayson, who’s sitting on the ambulance’s pulled-down door. He smiles up to them like the fucking idiot he is and waves, motioning to them to get closer. The paramedic looking at the injury on his temple collects his supplies and leaves after telling him to spend the night at the hospital, to be supervised.

Grayson thanks him and then returns his attention to his siblings.

“What the hell happened?” Cameron cuts to the chase, “how did this happen?”

He recounts the details and ends with “It was actually my fault,” he says, “I should have checked before making the turn.”

“You’re lucky you got off lightly,” Cameron chides, tanned and beautiful. “I’m gonna call mom, let her know what happened.”

Although he’s against the idea, she convinces him that something like this doesn’t just get covered up. Sooner or later, they will find out, so it’s best if they learn from them. She’s older so she knows better. Also, she’s the best sister in the world.

As Cameron steps aside to make the call, Grayson looks up at his brother, who’s pale and silent, unlike his usual loud nature.

“You OK there, dude?”

For a moment, Ethan can’t take his eyes off the blood smearing his brother’s shirt, neck and the side of his head. Grayson looks like he’s just walked out of a brain surgery before they could finish. He realizes he’s just been asked so he nods and scoffs.

“You’re the one who got into an accident.”

“Yea, but you look worse.”

“Nah, dude” Ethan thrusts his trembling hands into his side pockets, praying it’d stop the shaking. “I’m cool.”

Grayson nods in acknowledgment, “Alright.” He breathes out a small sigh. “Sorry for ruining the game, though.”

“Don’t worry about it, Gray” –Ethan is quick to assure, going for light-spirited– “You lost anyway.”

Grayson chuckles and winces, tapping at his wound with two fingers; Ethan parts his lips to talk but Cameron beats him to it.

“So” she starts, “They told me to bring you home.”

“Back to Jersey?”

She nods, “We’ll go back after you leave the hospital. They’ll probably send you home tomorrow if it’s nothing.”

They agree –actually, only Grayson agrees. He doesn’t understand why Ethan is being too creepily silent. It isn’t like him, especially when Grayson got into a fucking accident.  Come to think of it, Ethan’s been irritable lately, he always snaps and Grayson’s been honestly having a hard time dealing with him. So he knows, he knows that Ethan doesn’t want to leave LA. That’s probably why he’s upset at the idea of going back.

For the first time, Grayson doesn’t do his best to either cheer up his brother or convince him that Jersey will be fun.

 

The two sibling follow the ambulance to the hospital, and Ethan sits there, riding gunshot, listening to Cameron rant on and on about how this accident has to be a wake-up call and how it was so close.

But his mind is just blank…

 

Somehow, James and Emma find out, and they’re also one of the people who visit at the hospital that afternoon, take photos with the revenant and share them on their social media. The news is going to be huge, and people all over the world are going to talk about it. Ethan agrees with James.

The two of them leave around early evening, and Cameron takes her leave as well to go back home and bring Grayson a change of clothes and his teeth brush, and she tells Ethan to look after him.

 

Ethan seats himself on the chair beside Grayson’s bed, crosses his ankle over his lap and leans back like he’s basking in the sun next to their pool.

Grayson looks away from the heart monitor and at his brother, hesitating whether to bring it up or not –then he finally sees it: Ethan, pale and shaken, avoiding his eyes… He doesn’t do that unless he’s too scared to talk.

“E,” he calls out, his voice resonating in the silent room.

“No, don’t.” Ethan is already pushing off of his chair like it burned his rear, scurrying far away from the bed and facing Grayson with his back.

“Ethan, come on, man.” Grayson sits up, overcome by remorse at having thought badly of his brother.

“I could have lost you.”

It’s there, in the open, for Grayson to do whatever he wants with…

“But you didn’t.” He appeases, but Ethan turns around looking irked.

“That’s not the point, Gray!” He seethes, “You could have died, do you understand?” His irritation melts and nothing stays but fear of loss. “I can’t lose you, you’re twin brother.”

A tide of overwhelming sadness crashes on Grayson and he lowers his head, “Yeah, I know.” He says, now looking up and gesturing to Ethan to come closer. “Come’ here.”

Ethan doesn’t. He stands in his spot instead, trying to stop his tears.

“E, please, don’t do this to me.” His voice is small, like he’s coaching a kid, or scared the bird he’s talking to would fly away. “Come on, bro.”

“You’re always like that” –he wasn’t done, that’s probably why he preferred staying away– “don’t fuck with me, Gray. I can’t, OK, I just can’t…”

Ethan may be a little over-dramatic, but that’s only because he’s oversensitive and he’s always trying to camouflage it with this ‘cool guy’ façade. Grayson can see right through him now. He’s looking like he’s barely holding himself together, like there are barrels of tears waiting to pour down his cheeks, like he wants to skip his skin but Grayson’s existence is the only thing making him stand.

Grayson can’t believe it came to this.

It’s true that it isn’t always going to be sunshine and flowers in their life together, but he never expected the darkness would be so soon to unfold. It falls on him to clean up the mess he made; if only he was careful enough…

He swings his legs out of the bed and sits at the edge, motions to his brother to come closer. “Unless you want me to get out of the bed, and you already heard what the doctor said.”

Defeated, Ethan rakes a hand through his hair and shuffles towards the bed, to his brother’s open arms. He winds his around Grayson’s shoulders and hides his face in his brother’s neck.

“It’s OK now.” Grayson murmurs into his brother’s hair, “I’m OK.”

“Promise me that something like this will never happen again, Gray, you have to promise.” He sounds broken and hopeless, and Grayson can’t help but frame his head to bring him even closer, pecking at his temple and playing with the soft strands.

“I promise.”

 

 


End file.
